Embellished Lack Side Table

Description: With less than $45 and a little elbow grease, I transformed my $10 table that was destined for the dumpster into one of my new favorite pieces of furniture.

I started out by sanding down the “wood”. The surface is actually a very thin veneer so it doesn’t take much but does need to be thoroughly sanded. After whipping off all the excess dust, I flipped the table over and glued the corbels to the inside of each leg. Be sure to let them dry COMPLETELY before the next step.

After the corbels have dried, use wood filler to fill the tiny cracks between the table legs and corbels to make the surface flush. When the filler dries, lightly sand it until it’s smooth. After removing the dust, apply a thick coat of primer and follow it up with several coats of high gloss white spray paint. Spray painting furniture is tricky but there are lots of videos out there with helpful tips. The best tip I can give is to be patient – don’t try to get it all done in one coat. Spraying too close or too heavy will leave ugly drips or pools of paint on the surface.

To draw attention to the edge detail, I painted the inside surface of the corbel with a pretty bronze metallic paint. The edges of the corbels are a little rough and could have used a light sanding, but I hardly notice it on the finished product.

When I first started out, this was all I had intended on doing to the table but when I put in my living room, it seemed, well…lackluster. After tossing around a few ideas, I decided to try out a nailhead design. I purchased some nailhead trim from Joanna’s and hammered it in place to create a border around the table top. Adding the trim really helped finish the piece and brought out the bronze paint on the corbels. There you have it- a beautifully repurposed table for $45!

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Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

16 Responses to Embellished Lack Side Table

I simply love the nail heads. They truly bring out the bronze on the corbels more and make them stand out from all the whites. This new and improved lack is suitable and complements other furniture pieces easily because of its color which is easy to match. Thanks for the step by step guideline and I’ll experiment with other color for the sides of the corbels and maybe replace the nail heads with crystals for my daughter’s room.

I absolutely love this! Who would have thought simple corbels can transform a simple piece of furniture into an elegant one! Yes spray painting a table can be extremely tricky. I am extremely impressed by how good your finishing is! Could you recommend the brand of the spray paint you use? Are you particular about brands or do you just use any generic type from the hardware shop? And kudos on the nailhead trim. That to me is gold, pun intended.

there are obvious downsides to home improvement alternatives, the returns of a well-executed home improvement project are more than enough to offset its negative effects. Expect a few weeks of inconvenience if you are planning to perform a home improvement project. However, you can mitigate the negative impact of the activity if you plan early.

Meh? I don’t think so. It’s totally not my style, but it looks really good in Lacquer and Linen’s setting.This is IKEAhackers.net, not Antiquerefurbishers.net, and nobody that’s visiting this site is interested what YOU’d rather spend your money on…

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